The Sacred Text and the Language of the Leader: “Cultured Language” and the Rhetorical Turn in North Korea

This article examines the emergence of munhwaŏ (“Cultured Language”) in relation to the primacy of the leader in the DPRK. The articulation of the linguistic and cultural policies of munhwaŏ was inseparable from the development and formalization of the political leadership. The active translation, reception, and development of the Stalinist and Soviet linguistic tradition by North Korean intellectuals, together with the death of Stalin in 1953, importantly shaped the state’s quest for linguistic modernity. By tracing the “rhetorical turn” in North Korean linguistics in the 1960s, the author explores the development of munhwaŏ and its relation to the distinctive development of a charismatic oratory and a linguistic etiquette for the leader. One significant feature of North Korea’s quest for linguistic modernity is the way in which it diverges from its Soviet counterpart. By meticulously theorizing the language to be used of and for the leader, or what the author describes as the linguistic ritualization of charisma, North Korea offered an original contribution to the field of charismatic rhetoric. A comprehensive manual describing this rhetoric was developed, serving as a guide to the “sacred text” of the leader and describing how to articulate and express the presence of the leader in the public sphere.

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